1 February 2016

Going away and coming home again


Last Wednesday we left the city behind us and went to Melford Village for a few days with our friends, the Ks.  I never like to publish when we are going away until we are back at home (just in case someone decides it'd be a good idea to break in.)  Sophie and Felicity had a marvelous time together in the little cottage and it was a lovely setting, despite the wild weather.

Highlights, aside from just having some downtime to spend with friends/family -

The scenery through the Trossochs and along the West Coast of Scotland.  The trees don't have their leaves this time of year which made it easier to see the outlines of the rivers and lochs and hills.  There's been some flooding so several of the rivers and the sea lochs were especially dramatic.  Several times we turned a sharp corner (think little 2-lane road with the 18-wheelers barreling past in the other direction) and I literally gasped at the views of a torrential river or the waves of a sea-loch high up over their banks - fortunately never over the actual road in our case, but you felt like you might as well just be driving *on* the water, it was so close.  On the way home there'd been a dusting of snow over everything as well, so it was dazzling on the fields and road as well - not just on the snow-covered mountain peaks driving up out of the land and water everywhere up there.  I think Simon and I both felt a bit claustraphobic coming back to the city on Saturday.  I feel I could certainly get used to the lonely space the countryside offers.

The ferries to Mull, Iona and other West Coast Islands (think: Staffa and Fingal's Cave) leave from Oban.  We drove through this town several times and spent an afternoon at the local leisure centre giving the girls a good time in the soft play.  The weather was 'authentic' scottish winter - windy and wet!  but the town is still beautiful - set on a hillside running down to a promenade by the harbor.  There are a lot of pretty Victorian semi-detached houses set up and down the hill.  I wouldn't mind going back there in the summer.

On Friday we had hoped to take the girls to the Scottish Sealife Sanctuary just north of Oban, but they were closed for bad weather.  (Shame as the website looks great - lots of things to do.)  So because we were already that far north (and weren't sure what the bridges and snow would do on Saturday) we went ahead and drove up to Ballachulish where Starfish harps has their workshop.  How cool!  Lucky for me, though it was nearly lunchtime, the kids both fell fast asleep in the car and stayed asleep for a while while I went in and played with the harps!  The secretary was so nice.  I explained that I was beginner and she said to take my time and just have a play around - and then she closed the door so I wouldn't feel self-conscious!  I have been drooling over their website for over 6 months and knew the varieties - and thought I loved the concert-strung Lochaber the best.  So it was really really interesting to be there and hear and feel the harps in person.  The Glenelle model I played on was my absolute favorite - I kept coming back to it.  It made a really, there's no other word for it, a really JOYFUL sound.  About 20 minutes later the kiddos woke up and Simon brought them in and was able to listen to the harps as well.  He was taking a video of me playing on the harps, which ended with Felicity saying, 'I need to go potty.'  LOL  but what a treat!  I'm planning to go to the International Harp Festival here in Edinburgh in April.  They'll bring their harps down then too.  They said they have a year-long waiting list for their harps at the moment - I'm going to start saving now....maybe I can get my name down in a year or two.

We went to the Glencoe Visitor Centre to have lunch (after passing about 3 cafes along the road that were very closed!)  It was only about 3 miles up the road from the Ballachulish bridge,

The other exciting thing happened Saturday on the road back to Edinburgh.  We stopped at the antiques shop and cafe outside of Doune and had lunch and a wander around the store.  Felicity was beside herself with the excitement of seeing all the wee statues of animals *everywhere.*  It was constantly...'Mommy!!!  Come! come, come, come HEre! and see what I found!'  Dogs, dolphins, teddies, dollies, giarrafes, elephants, 'a whole bunny rabbit party!', hedgehogs, mice,....(who buys all these dinky figurines anyway??)  but we got caught in the book section with rows and rows of nice hardback, dustjacket-lined treasures.  And boy, did I find a keeper!  Practically perfect, clean, with dustjacket, FIRST EDITION copy of The Discarded Image!!  I grabbed it up when I saw the book ~(because Ive been wanting to read it for a while) and couldn't belive it when I opened the copy.  There was also a first edition copy of Lewis' letters to Arthur Greeves (out of print) and a first edition of Dorothy Sayers play The Man Born To Be King.

Reader, I bought them.

I was trying to find current prices of 'new' copies of The Discarded Image on amazon - one was listed at $1,098.00 or something! (don't even know if that was a first editions or not)  Simon said, 'well....be careful not to spill coffee on it' (lol how well does he know me?  I think books *like* to be baptised....like toys like to be played with...)  I joked, well, I only need to find 6 more first editions in antique stores before I can buy my harp........

Titus is being very clingy this morning. Must stop here for now.